


We'll Make It Right For You

by Rina_san28



Series: Right For You 'Verse [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety Disorder, Baby Fic, Biphobia, Deaf Character, Depression, F/F, F/M, Families of Choice, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Les Amis de l'ABC Shenanigans, M/M, Mentions of past child abuse, Molding a small human basically, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parenthood, Trans Character, Valjean is everybody's dad, and Fantine is mom supreme, growing up fic, light sprinkling of first time parent angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-07-24 12:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7508269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rina_san28/pseuds/Rina_san28
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Éponine gets a call from her mother five years after being disowned, being thrust into parenthood wasn't quite what she'd expected. At least she has her friends to help her muddle through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And So It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, folks!
> 
> So this is my first official dip into the Les Mis fandom, but I've been hanging around here for a while. This was a random thing that my brain came up with and then ran away with behind my back. This first chapter is on the shorter side, but later chapters should be longer. 
> 
> There may be some rough things that happen on down the road. I'm not planning on this fic becoming an angst fest, really it's just supposed to be 99.9% fluff, but there may be times when it does happen because this is about someone's life, and life does have angst in it, unfortunately. I will make sure to tag accordingly if necessary.

"Have a nice day!" Éponine sighed as another customer left the bakery, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. It was scorching hot outside, and the heat from the kitchen behind her wasn't making it any more bearable. 

"Éponine!" 

She jumped, startled, and turned around to find her boss standing behind her.

"Sorry." Valjean smiled sheepishly at her. "I didn't intend to startle you."

Jean Valjean was the owner of the bakery, as well as Éponine's personal savior. When her parents had disowned her when she was 16 when she brought home a girlfriend instead of a boyfriend, Valjean and his husband had taken her in without a second thought and helped her to evaluate her options. It wasn't much of a shock that most of his other employees had met him in a similar fashion. He was a huge man with a heart to match. 

"What is it?" Éponine asked. 

"Go take a break," he said. "You've been here since five this morning, and it's just past eleven now."

"I can hold on for another hour!"

"No," he said firmly. "Go to the back, have some food, maybe a nap. The bakery won't burn down if you aren't at the counter."

Éponine tried again. "But-"

"I'll get Fantine," Valjean said, raising an eyebrow slightly. 

"That's not fair!" Fantine, the co-owner of the bakery, was a force to be reckoned with. She mothered the entire staff endlessly as if they were her own children. 

Valjean just waited. 

Éponine sighed heavily, untying her apron. "Fine," she said. "You win."

"I always win." Valjean kissed her forehead and pressed a warm paper sack into her hands. "That's my girl. Go on." 

When she reached the break room, she found that the sofa was already occupied. Fantine's daughter Cosette was sitting on the sofa with a book, her legs stretched out in front of her. She glanced up at Éponine and smiled warmly, reaching and hand out in a silent invitation to join her. Éponine didn't hesitate to plop down, not on the sofa, but on Cosette's lap. It was quite convenient, having a girlfriend that was also a coworker. 

"Hi," Cosette said, smiling up at her. 

"Hi." Éponine booped Cosette's nose. "Your dad's mean."

"I know." Cosette took the lunch bag from Éponine's hand and opened it, pulling out a wrapped up bundle that was most likely a sandwich, a thermos, a chip bag, and a cookie. She pressed the thermos into Éponine's hand and began setting up the food on the coffee table. "You still love him though."

"He threatened to sic your mother on me," Éponine complained. She took a sip from the thermos and sighed contentedly when she discovered that it was the iced coffee that she was so fond of. _Marius must have brought it,_ she thought. 

Apparently the thought was enough to summon him, because in that moment Marius came out of the bathroom, tying on his apron. He smiled when his eyes landed on his girlfriends on the sofa, and he quickly made his way over. Éponine heard Cosette giggle as Marius somehow got tangled in the strings of his apron. 

"You," Cosette said fondly, "are a walking disaster."

"No, no!" Marius protested, still attempting to tug his hands free. "We all know that title belongs to Bossuet!" Éponine shrugged in response and shoved her sandwich in her mouth. It was a true enough statement. 

Cosette apparently agreed, because she hummed lightly before reaching over and pulling one of the ends of the apron strings, causing the entire apron to drop to the floor. Marius leaned down and pecked her on the cheek, then grabbed the apron off of the floor and sitting down beside them on the sofa. Éponine took advantage of the position and stretched out so that her feet were in his lap.

"I didn't see you come in," she said. 

"You were a bit busy," Marius said, stealing one of her chips. "I'm surprised Valjean didn't send you back here before now."

"He tried," Éponine admitted. "I ignored him." 

Cosette snorted. "Stubborn as always. Eat your lunch."

Éponine obeyed, listening as Cosette and Marius filled her in on what they'd gotten done in the house that morning after she'd left. They were repainting some of the rooms after Marius's birthday had gotten a little out of hand and Courfeyrac, Jehan, and Bahorel had decided to try their hands at painting murals. The results, while hilarious, weren't very good, so repainting it was. As they talked, Marius removed Éponine's shoes and idly began running her feet. She sighed appreciatively and let her head fall back, relaxing against Cosette's shoulder. The morning's stress drained away and she began to doze off. 

\------

"Pónine," a voice said, shaking her shoulder gently. "Hey, Pónine."

"Mmm..." Éponine felt warm and sleepy. She curled further into Cosette, trying to escape the hand. 

"Pónine, you gotta wake up, sweetie," the voice - Fantine - said, sounding rather amused. "Your phone is ringing."

"Fine, fine." She yawned, then climbed off of her girlfriend's lap to stretch. She glanced over and saw Cosette sharing a small smile with her mother. "Oh hush, you." She grabbed her phone and plopped down on the sofa in the spot that Marius had apparently vacated and pressed the answer button, not bothering to look at the caller ID. "Pónine."

"Oh, so this is the right number. Hello...dear." Éponine's blood ran cold as she recognized the voice on the other end. She reached over and grabbed Cosette's hand for support. 

"Mother." 

Cosette tensed, squeezing Éponine's hand. Fantine's eyebrows shot up in alarm, and she quickly exited the room, most likely to get either Valjean or Marius. 

"Good, you remember who I am," her moth- no, _Mrs. Thénardier_ said, sounding irritated. "Now, to business. Come get your brother."

"My what?" Éponine asked. "I don't-"

"You do now!" Mrs. Thénardier snapped. "And you need to come and get him!" 

"But-" Éponine stuttered, still in shock, "there's paperwork-"

"It's done."

"And I don't know anything about him!"

"He's six months old," the woman supplied, clearly annoyed, "and he's a hassle. Name's Gavroche. And he's yours now."

"I-" Out of the corner of her eye, Éponine saw Valjean enter the room, followed closely by a concerned looking Marius, who immediately came and knelt at her feet. She ran the hand that was not holding Cosette's for dear life through his hair, a move that comforted her as much as it did him. "I'll come. What do you have that I can take?" 

If her mother was pleased, her voice didn't show it. "Some clothes, a pack of diapers. A carrier."

"No car seat?" Éponine asked, trying to focus on the task at hand. 

"No need. Didn't have a car." 

"Where should I-" 

"Same house," Mrs. Thénardier interrupted. 

"I'll be there as soon as I can," she said. A sudden terror consumed her. "If I come and he's in any way hurt-"

"Yes, yes, whatever, just come." And the line went dead. 

Éponine let her phone drop from her shoulder and into her lap, staring at it. She had a brother. A baby brother. A baby brother who was being rejected by their parents and dropped into her care. What had her parents done to him, she wondered. How much horror had they squeezed into the six months he'd been alive?

"Hey, Éponine," Cosette whispered softly, pulling her out of her train of thought. "What's going on?"

"Why did she want you to meet her?" Marius added, reaching up to stroke her cheek. "Matter of fact, why are you _going?"_

Éponine stayed silent for a moment, then sighed, dropping her head onto Cosette's shoulder. "I have a baby brother."

Marius looked confused. "Um...congratulations?"

"And my parents have given me custody," she finished. Marius and Cosette both looked at her incredulously. 

"But," Cosette said, "they disowned you?"

"They're disowning him, too, apparently," Éponine said grimly. "Mother wants me to go and pick him up today. Immediately."

Marius and Cosette shared a look, then looked at her and nodded simultaneously. "Okay."

"What?"

"We said okay." Cosette kissed the top of Éponine's head. "What do we need?"

"Everything," Éponine said, a bit surprised. "He only has some clothes and a baby carrier, Mother said." She figured the diapers would run out pretty quickly anyways, so no need to list them. "I'm going to need to get a car seat before I get him."

"You're not going alone," Valjean said, appearing next to her suddenly. "Take Bahorel and Grantaire with you."

"I'm not afraid of my mother!" she protested. "I'm a big girl!" 

"It's not your mother I'm worried about." Valjean's face was crinkled in worry. Éponine winced, knowing that he was thinking about what she looked like when Cosette had opened the door to find her laying on the front porch, black and blue from her father's attempt to "beat the dyke out of her."

"Okay," she conceded. "I'll text them." 

"No need." Grantaire walked over from where he had been hovering in the doorway. "Fantine grabbed me when I came in. I just texted Bahorel. I heard something about a car seat?" Valjean went over and explained the situation to him as Éponine looked down at her partners. 

"Are you sure about this?" she whispered. "It's a big step." 

"We know," Cosette said. 

"And we'll take it together," Marius added. He put his hand over Cosette and Éponine's joined ones and squeezed. 

Éponine could feel tears in her eyes and pushed them back ruthlessly. "Thank you."

Just then, Bahorel walked in. "My SUV's ready outside," he said. "I hear it's a rescue mission?"

"Yep." Éponine stood. "Gavroche Thénardier needs to get out of that house."

"I took the liberty of informing the group chat, as well," Grantaire said. "Joly, Chetta, and Feuilly are on their way to the baby store, Enjolras and Combeferre are checking out infant care sites, and Jehan, Courfeyrac, and Bossuet are on their way to you guys' house to start baby proofing."

"I'll meet them there, if that's alright, Papa?" Cosette said, glancing at Valjean. 

"Of course," he said. "I put up a sign already that says we're closed for a family emergency. Your mother and I will follow you."

"I'll go with Éponine," Marius said, standing as well. "I can make sure that their documentation is legitimate."

"Put your two years of law school to good use," Éponine joked weakly. She squeezed his hand in thanks. 

"Alright, team!" Grantaire said, punching the air. "Let's go!"

\-----

"Jesus Christ, Marius, it's fine! Let's go!" 

Marius glared up to where Grantaire was sitting in the passenger seat. "I just want to make sure that the car seat's secure!"

"Well, you can do that while we're driving. Get in the damn car." Marius did as he was told, and they were off again. 

Bahorel had driven them to Target to pick up a car seat ("My sister got hers there and it works great, trust me!"), and Marius had fussed so much about which one they got that Éponine could have almost imagined he was searching for one for his own son instead of her brother. They'd finally ended up with a green and blue one with octopi and fish on it, and Bahorel, Grantaire, and Marius had proceeded to spend 10 minutes struggling to properly attach it to the backseat of Bahorel's SUV. 

As they hurtled down the road, Bahorel carefully following the GPS's instructions, Éponine looked out the window and allowed herself to think. She was on her way to pick up a six-month-old baby that was now apparently her responsibility. Marius and Cosette had agreed - without her even asking them in the first place - that the three of them would raise them together. Their friends were all jumping on board as well. How did she get friends like that? Her of all people - the abrasive, eternally angry girl who's own parents hated her. 

_Oh my god, how am I supposed to raise a child when I'm so fucked up?_ she realized suddenly. _I'm going to ruin his whole life, I can't-_

"Éponine." She jumped and looked over at Marius. He gently took her hand and squeezed it. "We're here."

Éponine got out of the car and looked around. The house looked worse than she remembered, if it were at all possible. The stairs leading up to the front porch were crooked and the left railing was gone. Three of the windows were boarded up, and a fourth was partly open, the bottom half hanging oddly. The house looked like it had at one point been yellow, but the siding was filthy and coming loose in places. It was a house out of a horror movie. 

"Fuck, Éponine," Bahorel breathed, coming up next to her. "You _lived_ here?"

"You could say that," she said. She shook herself and squared her shoulders. "Watch your pockets, she'll try and get into 'em. Your pants in generally really. Let's get this over with."

Marius slung a comforting arm around her waist as Bahorel and Grantaire followed them up to the front door. Éponine was a bit concerned as to whether the porch would be able to support their weight, but apart from a groan of protest, nothing happened. She took a deep breath and pounded her fist on the door. 

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she heard her mother say inside, "keep your damn pants-" The door was yanked open, the woman behind it narrowing her eyes at the sight of Éponine and her escorts. "Oh. 'S you."

Marie Thénardier was an extremely unpleasant-looking woman. She was horribly fat, had warts and wild greying hair, and smelled vaguely of spoiled tuna fish. Her personality, Éponine knew, was no better. 

"I said I'd come. Where is he?" Éponine said, getting straight down to business. 

"Upstairs, second door on the right." Mrs. Thénardier opened the door wider and stepped out of the way to let them through. 

Éponine walked immediately for the stairs, not wanting to interact more with her mother than was absolutely necessary. Grantaire followed her closely, and behind her she could hear Marius asking to see the papers. A glance back showed Bahorel standing behind him, looking as threatening as possible. 

Once she reached the second floor, Éponine didn't even pause. She walked straight to the door and turned the doorknob, shouldering the door open when it stuck. She gasped a bit at what she saw. 

The room was dark, the window so dirty that barely any light went through it. There was a small pile of grocery bags on the floor that appeared to have clothes in them, and a half-empty package of diapers next to it. Under the window was a baby carrier. Éponine crept closer to the carrier and knelt down. Hesitantly, she reached out and opened pushed back the sun shade to see her brother for the first time. 

Gavroche was asleep, and warm to the touch. He had chubby little baby cheeks and a whale onesie that almost looked a little too small for him. His head was covered in downy blonde hair. To Éponine's relief, he looked peaceful; she had been expecting a nightmare. Loathe as she was to disturb him, she knew she needed to get him out of the carrier. She'd barely glanced at the thing before she knew that there was no way she was taking that thing home with her. It was a piece of junk. 

Ever so carefully, she slipped a hand underneath his head and the other beneath his bum, lifting him up to clutch him against her chest. He wiggled a little bit in her arms and began to fuss. 

"Shhh, shhh!" She bounced him a little bit, praying that he wouldn't start crying. "I've gotcha, buddy. You're okay." He opened his eyes and looked right at her. Éponine found herself looking into eyes identical to her own. Instantly she felt warm inside, and she ran her thumb up and down his tiny arm soothingly and was rewarded with an open-mouthed baby smile.

"Hey, Pónine." Éponine turned to see Grantaire smiling and holding the grocery bags, the bag of diapers abandoned on the floor. He'd apparently decided they weren't worth bringing. "Let's get the little squirt outta here." She nodded and turned to the door, shifting Gavroche so that he was sitting upright in her arms. 

Marius and Bahorel met them at the bottom of the stairs, the former looking rather pleased. 

"She wasn't lying about the papers," he said, waving a folder around. "It actually is all in order, surprisingly. He's your son now, at least legally." Marius seemed to notice Gavroche then and his mouth formed a small "o". 

"Well, that's precious," Bahorel said. He sent a glare over his shoulder at Éponine's mother, who was sitting at the table sulking. "Let's split." They all began walking towards the door, but just as they got there Mrs. Thénardier spoke up.

"I don't wanna see you folks again," she said. "'Specially not in court." 

"Ma'am?" Marius raised an eyebrow at her and subtly stepped in front of Éponine and Gavroche. 

"I gave you the kid, you forget about what we did," Mrs. Thénardier spat. She glared at them all. "Éponine's aware of the consequences, aren't you, _dearie,"_ she said, the last word coming out sickly sweet and pointed straight at Éponine's heart. 

Éponine swallowed and nodded mutely, unconsciously holding her brother closer to her. 

"Get out." With that, Éponine's mother disappeared into the kitchen, slamming the door behind her. 

Bahorel opened the door and Marius exited, going down the stairs first and taking Éponine's elbow to help her down as well. Grantaire and Bahorel followed closely, Bahorel heading straight for the car as Grantaire violently and loudly slammed the door in a rare moment of rage before following the other man. She and Marius glanced at each other and hurried to the car as well, opening the door and climbing in. Éponine put Gavroche in the car seat and strapped him in, nodding to Bahorel as soon as she was ready. With that, he turned on the car, backed out of the driveway, and sped away, leaving Éponine's personal hell in the dust behind them.


	2. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby comes home, chaos ensues, and Éponine is just thankful that there aren't any tears yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 has finally arrived! Sorry for the wait - I had a bunch of shows and have also been doing my last-minute preparations for college, so things have been a bit crazy. 
> 
> I forgot to say last chapter that the name of this fic comes from a lyric in the song Dear Theodosia from the Broadway musical Hamilton. It was the song I was listening to when I came up with the idea for this fic, so it seemed fitting. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Éponine wasn't sure what she was expecting. 

After a surprisingly stress-free ride home ("What if he cries?" "Marius, he's fine." "What if he gets hungry?" "Marius, he's _fine."_ "What if he _poops?"_ "...Okay, _then_ we might be screwed."), Éponine had scooped a wide-awake and giggly Gavroche from the car seat/baby carrier and gotten all the way to the front door before realizing that she didn't have a free hand to open it with. Luckily Grantaire had followed her with the bags and was able to get it for her. Once it was opened, though, neither went inside. 

It looked like a scene from a bad sitcom. Jehan, who was sitting on the floor next to the coffee table attaching baby bumpers to the corners, was covered in pieces of styrofoam and had a bandaid on their forehead that had not been there earlier. Joly, Bossuet, and Musichetta were gathered around the dining room table, unboxing baby food, toys, pacifiers, and other things that Éponine could not figure out the purposes of. Bossuet, like Jehan, was covered in styrofoam, and Joly's leg was sitting in the kitchen sink, which was full of soapy water. Chetta while the most put-together of the four, had a line of colorful bandaids going up her forearm and meeting the gauze pad and medical tape around her elbow. Éponine could hear music drifting down from the second floor, along with off-key singing and some rather ominous thumping noises. 

Grantaire was the first to speak up. 

"What...the actual fuck?" The others all looked up immediately.

"You're back!" Jehan said cheerfully, shoving a neon green baby bumper onto the corner of the TV stand. "How'd it go?" 

"Fine...?" Éponine took a tentative step into the house, shifting Gavroche in her arms as he wiggled around, clearly intrigued by his new surroundings. "What's going on?" 

"Javert is on his way over with pizza," Chetta said, "Fantine took Enjolras with her on a grocery run, Cosette is baby-proofing the bathroom, and Feuilly and Valjean are trying to put the crib together." She scooped up a few toys and dropped them in an already full box, which she then set by the stairs. 

"What about Courf and Ferre?" Éponine asked. Grantaire seemed to have taken her entrance as permission to go in as well and dropped the bags of clothes on the sofa. 

"They went to go get my spare leg," Joly said, looking a bit sheepish. "And some clean clothes for themselves."

"And Montparnasse is coming, by the way, after work." Jehan practically wiggled as they spoke, their excitement clear. 

"What the-" Marius and Bahorel walked in, the former closing and locking the door behind them. Bahorel was carrying the baby carrier, which was full of pieces of the mechanism for attaching it to the car seat. He walked over and set it down on the sofa next to the bags grumbling about bad instructions and violent seat belts, rubbing at a bruise forming on his neck. 

Bossuet, who was struggling with the packaging on a teething toy set, glanced up at the group in the entryway. "I would wait to ask until dinner," he advised. "It's a long story."

"I'd imagine." Éponine carefully balanced Gavroche on her hip, holding him there with one arm as she grabbed a small stuffed toy from the box. It looked like a bear, but she wasn't quite sure, as it also had wings, polka dots, and a long tongue. The boy seemed to like it well enough, though, as he immediately shoved the head into his mouth.

"Oooo!" Jehan had jumped up while Éponine wasn't looking and was now hovering over her shoulder, peering down at the baby. "He's got such chubby li'l cheeks!" They reached out, making grabby hands at Gavroche. 

Éponine twisted away, laughing a bit as Jehan pouted at having Gavroche moved out of their reach. "No touchie," she said, "not while you're covered in styrofoam." 

"But Pónine..." they whined, making a second attempt. 

"Nope!" Gavroche giggled as Éponine spun around again and retreated behind Marius, Jehan sticking their lip out as they dramatized their pout in an attempt to gain sympathy from the others. 

"Go use a lint roller," Marius said, taking pity on his friend. "Upstairs bathroom, top shelf of the right-hand cabinet." Jehan nodded before rocketing up the stairs. 

"He is pretty stinkin' cute, Pónine," Chetta said approvingly. "Once the rest of the gang gets their hands on him, you'll never see him again."

Éponine chuckled. "We'll see about that." She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Marius looking a bit shy, wringing his hands a little as he looked at the Gavroche. 

"Can I - uh," he stuttered, "hold him? Maybe?" He held out his arms for inspection. "I'm not covered in styrofoam." 

"Of course. Here, take him under the arms - that's it." Éponine grinned as Marius awkwardly shifted Gavroche to a comfortable position. The baby didn't seem at all phased by the change. He looked curiously up at Marius, still gnawing on the stuffed toy. After a moment, he giggled and hit Marius's collarbone a few times with his tiny baby hand before clumsily grabbing onto the collar of his button up. 

" _Oh,"_ Marius breathed softly. He moved his hand up and gently rubbed Gavroche's soft little cheek with his fingers, then placed it on the boy's back, supporting him as he began to look around. Éponine suddenly realized just how small her new charge was - Marius's hand covered most of the baby's back. A soft click came from the direction of the kitchen as someone, most likely Musichetta, snapped a photo. 

"Éponine? Marius?" Éponine looked over and saw Cosette walking down the stairs. She had changed out of the sundress she'd had on earlier and into a pair of old cut-offs and what looked like one of Marius's tank tops. She somehow managed to still look effortlessly ethereal. Éponine walked over, wrapped her arms around Cosette's waist, and tucked her face into her neck. Her girlfriend returned embrace. 

"Mission success," Éponine said. Cosette pulled back just enough to kiss the side of her head. "Marius said the papers make Gavroche my son."

"Not quite sure how they pulled that off," Marius said, walking over to join his girlfriends, "but it all seems to be in order." Éponine pulled away fully to watch as he clucked his tongue at Gavroche, who had attempted to shove his hand into Marius's mouth. 

"We'll have to figure out who he calls what," Cosette said. 

Éponine's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"Marius is easy, he can just be 'Papa'," Cosette continued, smiling and offering Gavroche her fingers to investigate. "But he has two moms. That's a little trickier."

"He could call one of you 'maman'," Joly suggested. "I mean, we're all at least a little bit French." 

"That sounds really close to 'mom' and 'mama', though," Éponine said, understanding what Cosette meant all of a sudden. 

"You could still go for other languages," Joly said. "What about 'anya'? That's Hungarian." 

"Not really feelin' it, Joly." Cosette frowned. After a beat of silence, she brightened up and started grinning. "I've got it."

"Don't leave us in suspense!" Bossuet, who was still struggling with the same package of teethers, leaned across the table expectantly. 

"Meemee." Cosette looked smug, clearly very proud of herself.

Éponine stared at her. "That...is precious."

"You like?" Cosette raised an eyebrow, glancing at both Marius and Éponine for approval. 

"Love it!" Marius bounced Gavroche. "What about you, little guy?" Gavroche gurgled in answer. "There ya go," Marius said, nodding decisively. "He likes it, too."

"I'm 'Mama'," Éponine said, surprised by just how much the concept pleased her. She booped Cosette on the nose, causing her to wrinkle it in response. "And since it was your idea, you get 'Meemee'." Cosette made a pleased sound and pretended to gobble on Gavroche's arm, triggering another round of giggles. 

"Oh my god, I'm melting," Éponine heard Grantaire whisper from his seat on the arm of the sofa. A glance his way revealed that he had his phone out, most likely filming the whole thing. She'd thank him later. 

"We do have to look through what my mother sent with us," Éponine said, reluctantly letting her arm drop from Cosette's waist. "He can't wear that onesie forever. It already looks kinda tight." She walked over to the sofa and picked up one of the grocery bags, dropping on the table, then glanced back at her partners and brother - well, her son now, she supposed - and quirked an eyebrow at them. "C'mon, I need him over here for a size reference."

Marius pecked Gavroche's cheek. "Looks like you get to hang out with Mama and Meemee for a while," he told the baby, carefully passing him to a startled, yet pleased-looking Cosette. "Papa's going to go make sure that your uncles and grandpa haven't destroyed the upstairs." He dropped a kiss on Cosette's hair and blew one at Éponine before disappearing up the stairs. 

"Your papa's rather odd, little one," Joly advised. "Best get used to it." Gavroche made motion that might have been an attempt to clap his hands. 

Cosette sat down crosslegged on the floor next to the coffee table and settled Gavroche comfortably in her lap as Éponine began to pull clothes out of the bag. "She sent a lot," the blonde woman observed. 

"I doubt we can actually use much of it, though," Éponine said doubtfully. "Look at this one." She held up a tiny red sweater with one button where there should have been four. "Useless."

"We could put on new buttons," Chetta said, walking over to inspect it. "I don't think it's worth it though."

"Why not?" Grantaire frowned, confused. "He needs clothes, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but this is too heavy for this time of year," Éponine explained, folding the sweater and setting it aside. "By the time it gets cold enough, he'll have outgrown it."

"Really?"

"Babies can literally grow overnight, R," Joly said, finally confiscating the package of teethers from Bossuet. "Humans grow more in their first year then they do the rest of their lives, proportionally, that is. At this point he should have already doubled his birthweight."

"Did you guys happen to grab clothes while you were out?" Éponine asked Musichetta hopefully as she added two sleepers to the reject pile.

"Some plain onesies," Chetta said, counting off on her fingers. "Plus, Feuilly insisted on a sailor suit, Joly found a bear sleeper with footies and ears, and I grabbed a couple t-shirts and some leggings."

"That should last a few days, at least," Cosette said. She pulled her key pendant out of Gavroche's hands and jiggled the stuffed bear/bird/giraffe/dog toy to refocus his attention on it. 

They were interrupted by a particularly loud thump from upstairs, followed by a loud yell of "FUCK" and hysterical laughter. There were then two more thumps and the sound of a door closing. Marius's head came into view as he peered around the wall by the first landing and smiled sheepishly at the concerned faces in the living room. 

"Um, I need an ice pack and two bandaids, if you could," he said, "uh, please. Quickly." 

"What happened?" Bossuet said, carrying Joly's first aid kit over. 

"I, um, tripped." A blush began creeping up Marius's neck. "I'm fine, but I smacked into Cosette's dad, who hit Feuilly with the hammer." He took the kit gratefully. "And Feuilly tried to get revenge by poking me with a screwdriver, but Valjean leaned over just then because he was laughing so hard and got in the way at the last second so he got stabbed instead."

There was a beat of silence before Bahorel started chuckling. "Only you, Pontemercy, I swear."

Marius made a face at the him. "Buzz off!" He then vanished back upstairs. 

"Oh my god," Cosette whispered, running a hand over Gavroche's head. "He's supposed to help us teach this baby how to function like an actual human." 

"I know," Éponine said. She held up a green-and-brown eyesore that looked like it was supposed to be a swimsuit. "I can't wait to see what happens when Marius tries to feed him." 

"Oh, look at this one!" Musichetta said, crouching down and pulling a t-shirt out of the bag. She turned it around to show it off, laughing. It was light blue with "The Snuggle is Real" written on it in big block letters. 

" _Please_ tell me it'll fit him," Grantaire said, sliding off the sofa and onto the floor to help out. 

"It should, the tag says 9-12 months." Chetta held the shirt up against Gavroche, who only glanced up for a moment before continuing his self-appointed mission of covering the entirety of his stuffed toy in saliva. 

"So it'll last him a while, then." Éponine sighed, relived. She only had so much money, and now she had a child to care for with it. The more that could be salvaged, the better. "We'll have to put keep stuff in the wash later. Go grab a laundry basket from the bathroom, we can put them in there." 

Bossuet, who was closest, quickly got one, unfolded it, and put it upside down over Musichetta's head. This prompted a giggle from Gavroche, causing Bossuet to look quite pleased with himself. 

The front door opened and everyone whipped around as one to see a rather confused-looking Montparnasse standing there, briefcase and bag of casual clothes - or at least his version of casual clothes - in hand. 

"What's going on, Pónine?" he said, toeing off his shoes. "I got a text from Jehan saying that your parents had pulled some shit and I should come over..." He drifted off as his eyes landed on the baby in Cosette's lap. 

"This is my brother," Éponine said. She tossed the pair of stained butterfly leggings she was looking at into the reject pile. "Name's Gavroche. He's six months old and I'm his new mom."

Montparnasse tilted his head to the side like a cat, considering. "Okay," he said. "Cool. I thought I was going to need to slip back in and murder someone." Montparnasse had been in Éponine's parents' gang until about 2 years after they kicked Éponine out of the house. He had shown up on Valjean's doorstep at 3 in the morning with a black eye and Jehan on his arm and that had been that. 

As if summoned by the mention of their name, Jehan bounced down the stairs. "You're here!" As soon as they reached their boyfriend, they climbed up him and held on like a koala to kiss his cheek. "Go change, you've got work to do. Feuilly and Valjean just finished the crib and are getting ready to tackle the changing table."

"It's not exactly the work I'd expected to be doing, I put _weapons_ in my briefcase," Montparnasse grumbled, but he obligingly put down his case and walked towards the stairs, Jehan still attached to his front. 

"He brought weapons?" Joly said, scrunching up his nose. 

Éponine shrugged and dropped a blue plaid hoodie into the laundry basket that now sat on the floor instead of Chetta's head. "You heard him. He thought he was gonna have to whoop some ass."

"Pónine," Cosette hissed, putting her hands over Gavroche's ears. "Language!" 

"Sorry." Éponine leaned over and pecked Gavroche on the head and Cosette on the lips in apology. 

"He's not actually go-" Joly's impending lecture was interrupted by the door opening again, this time followed by a grocery bag-laden Enjolras and Fantine.

"Hi Mom!" Cosette chirped. "What's with the grocery run?"

"You had no food," Fantine said, raising an eyebrow at her daughter, "except for some ramen cups, two boxes of cereal, half a jug of milk, and the leftovers from last month's Sunday brunch."

"I thought we'd thrown those out?" Cosette squinted at Éponine, who hid her face behind a raggedy orange tutu in lieu of answering. 

"Why is Joly's leg in the sink?" Enjolras called from the kitchen. He sounded a bit concerned. 

"Long story," Bossuet said, ripping open a package of baby washcloths. "We'll tell all over dinner."

"What's up with dinner, anyway?" Fantine asked.

"Dad's getting pizza." Cosette stood, pecked Gavroche on his chubby little cheek, and deposited him into the lap of a startled Grantaire before going to help her mother with the groceries. 

"Hey there buddy," Grantaire said softly, lifting Gavroche up to eye-level. "I'm your..." He glanced over at Éponine questioningly. 

"Uncle?" Éponine suggested. She hadn't thought about what to call their friends in regards to her...son. "Yeah, you're his uncle."

"Sweet!" Grantaire returned his attention to the drooling baby in his arms. "I'm your Uncle R. I'm the ugliest. Sorry 'bout that."

"Stop that!" Enjolras sounded a bit cross as he joined his fiancé on the floor. "We've talked about this."

"Lecture later," Grantaire said, pecking Enjolras on the cheek. "Baby now." He shifted Gavroche so that he was facing Enjolras, who blinked and offered his fingers up for grabbing. "This is your Uncle E. He's usually full of righteous fury. Maybe you'll pick up on that."

"God, I hope not," Éponine said. She dropped a frog onesie into the laundry basket, which held a considerably more pathetic amount of clothes than were in the reject pile. "Infect your own kid. Leave mine alone."

"But he's so cute!" Grantaire pouted, rubbing his and Gavroche's noses together, much to the baby's apparent delight. "Maybe I'll just steal him."

"If you steal him, I'll steal Rousseau," Éponine threatened. 

"You leave my cat out of this!" Enjolras took Gavroche from Grantaire and settled him comfortably in his own lap. "He's an innocent in all of this!"

Éponine shrugged. "Baby for baby."

Enjolras glared at her before turning his attention completely to the human baby. "He seems fairly calm for being passed around so much."

"I think he's attention-starved," Éponine said, grimacing. "I grew up in that household. Azelma and I were fed, clothed, and given a place to sleep, but we never really were acknowledged by our parents. I doubt my mother spent any more time with him than she had to."

"Why would she give him up?" Grantaire asked. "He's her _son."_

"I don't fucking know!" Some of Éponine's pent-up frustration with the situation bled into her voice. "Maybe she's just as much of a bitch as she always was! He's with us now!"

"Hey, now," Cosette said, frowning as she walked back over to the group. "Calm down. It's alright." She began soothingly running a hand through Éponine's hair, gently working out any tangles with her fingers. 

"We're here with you every step of the way," Bahorel said. He leaned forward from where he was still lounging on the sofa and smiled, settling a hand on her shoulder. "Nobody gets past us to him. He'll be safe now."

The moment was interrupted by the door opening a third time. Courfeyrac bounced in first, holding Joly's backup leg. Combeferre followed more calmly, shutting the door behind them. He smiled when he saw the group of people on the floor, and the smile widened when he saw the baby. 

"So here's the man of the hour," he said, snorting as Gavroche tried to twist around in Enjolras's lap so he could grab onto his hair. "Looks like trouble."

"You know that Thénardier gal," Grantaire joked. "Now she's got a little clone to raise! It's something out of a horror movie!" Éponine punched him in the shoulder for his trouble. 

"He's not my clone," she said, standing. "He's blonde. I'm a-" 

"Blunette?" Grantaire said cheekily. 

"Never say that word again." Enjolras looked disgusted. "It's not even a word!"

"But she has blue hair!" 

"I was going to point out that I have black hair, but thanks, R." Éponine ran a hand through her dyed locks, blue more obvious at the ends than the roots. "As soon as the rest of the blue grows out, though, I'm thinking of going purple."

"Ooo, that'd be nice," Musichetta called from the kitchen. 

"Forget about hair, I wanna see the baby!" Courfeyrac appeared suddenly behind Cosette, startling a little shriek out of her. He put his hands on her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her cheek before darting over to crouch next to Enjolras. 

"Hey, Gavroche," Enjolras said, turning the baby towards Courfeyrac. "Meet Uncle Courf."

"I'm the coolest," Courfeyrac informed the boy solemnly. "The rest of your uncles are total losers. Your pops, too, really. No offense to him, he does try."

"Hey! Offense! That's rude!" Marius walked over to join them, Valjean and Feuilly following with amused looks on their faces. "Don't turn my son against me! He's only been mine for maybe 3 hours!"

"Yeah, Courf, Marius can make a fool of himself on his own, he doesn't need your help," Grantaire teased, getting up to help Éponine re-bag the rejected clothing. Marius stuck his tongue out in retaliation. 

Valjean chuckled at the trio's antics before pulling pulling out his phone. "Marceau will be here soon," he said, squinting at the screen and holding it away from his face in an attempt to see it better. "He says he picked up three sheet pizzas, will that be enough?" He looked at Cosette for confirmation. 

"We usually get two," she said, shrugging. "But you, Dad, and Mama are here, so yeah, three should be fine. Tell Dad that Mama got cake."

"Your mom got cake?" Bossuet looked up gleefully, nearly stabbing Joly with the box cutter. 

"I did," Fantine said, plucking the potential murder weapon out of Bossuet's hands, "and if you're good I might just let you have some."

"I'm always a good boy!" 

"Let me just kinkshame you there, my friend," Bahorel called, cackling when he received a double bird in return. 

"How soon is soon?" Combeferre asked.

Valjean shrugged. "Ten minutes?" 

"Let's get the table set, people!" Chetta said. She shoved the remaining packages back into their bags and removed them from the table before easily scooping up Joly bridal style.

"Chetta!" Joly squawked, flailing his arms. "I have my leg!" 

"It's not on," she said, "so I took care of it." She put him on the sofa and gently kissed his forehead. "Sorry."

"I'm not complaining," Joly said, smiling as Bossuet plopped down next to him, holding the leg. "I _like_ your muscles."

"Can we keep this G-rated?" Enjolras said as he stood, using Courfeyrac to pull himself up as he clutched Gavroche to his chest. "In case you dumbasses hadn't noticed, there's a baby here!"

Grantaire snorted. "Yeah, Apollo, there's a baby," he said, "so watch your _fucking language!"_

"Boys," Cosette sighed. She hauled Courfeyrac off the floor and dragged him towards the kitchen. "Table setting. Come on."

Éponine smiled, watching her friends relax into their usual banter as they cleaned up the carnage from emergency baby prep and cooed at Gavroche occasionally. The cooing only increased once Combeferre mentioned that according to the parenting websites he had scoured that afternoon, Gavroche should be starting to identity and recognize individual people. 

How had she gotten so lucky? 

When Jehan and Montparnasse joined them downstairs, announcing that the changing table was ready, everyone whipped out their phones to take pictures of Parnasse, who was wearing black capri leggings and what looked like one of Jehan's rainbow Hawaiian shirts. Jehan, apparently oblivious to their boyfriend's plight, immediately relieved Enjolras of Gavroche and proceeded to looking for ideas of what they could be called instead of Uncle or Aunt. 

"What about Entie?" Bahorel suggested.

"No!" Joly wrinkled his nose. "That makes me think of Treebeard in ways that I never wanted to." Jehan nodded emphatically and pulled their braid out of Gavroche's mouth. 

"Fine, fine,"

"What about Titi?" Bossuet said. 

"Nah," Courfeyrac said, "I called my mom's sister that. It's still gendered."

"Keeping on that vein of thinking though," Grantaire said thoughtfully, "what about Zizi?" Marius and Valjean both choked and Fantine began cackling from the kitchen. 

"You really don't wanna use that one, Jehan," Marius said, flushing a bit. 

"Why not?" Jehan said. "It's cute!"

"It's cute," Fantine called, "but it's also French kiddie slang for 'penis'." Valjean turned away from the group, his broad shoulders shaking suspiciously.

"Yeah, no, you're not using that one," Éponine said, rolling her eyes as her friends burst into fits of helpless giggles. 

"What do I use, then?" Jehan frowned down at the baby in their arms. "He's gotta call me _something!"_

"We'll just make one up!" Courfeyrac said. "Like, Oobie or something like that. Something fun." 

Jehan's face lit up. "That's it!" They shouted, startling Gavroche out of his examination of Joly's hand. 

"What, Oobie?" Courfeyrac made a face. "I was joking, Jehan!"

"I don't care," Jehan said stubbornly," I love it and I'm using it." They lifted Gavroche so the two of them were eye to eye. "Hi little fella! I'm Oobie Jehan!"

"Jesus Christ," Grantaire muttered. 

"I'm having tragic flashbacks to that one weird-ass show on Disney that my sisters always watched," Combeferre said, getting the dishes down that Courfeyrac was stretching for but couldn't quite reach. "Y'know, the one with the hand and the little googy-eye ring thingy?" 

"Oh my god, I'd forgotten about that one," Feuilly said. "I remember some of the younger kids in the one group home watched it religiously. That was called Oobie, right?"

"Yep. The stuff of nightmares."

"Great."

"How much longer till pizza time?" Éponine asked Valjean, who was attaching the tray onto a high chair that someone - probably Feuilly - had put together. 

"Not too much longer." He finally locked it into place and straightened, groaning as he stretched his back out. "Goodness, I'm old."

"I know," Éponine said, smirking up at him. "You're an old fart."

"What's this about old farts?" Javert walked into the kitchen, peering at them over a stack of pizza boxes. 

"We were experimenting to see if mentioning them would summon one," Grantaire deadpanned. "Obviously it worked." 

"Shut it, kid," Javert said, rolling his eyes. "Come take these from the old fart before he drops them." Grantaire snorted, but complied, freeing the retired police inspector to inspect the new recruit. 

"Gavroche," Cosette said, materializing next to Jehan and relieving them of the baby in question, "meet your granddad. Granddad, Gavroche."

Javert got an odd look on his face as he studied Gavroche. Gavroche stared back. The contest lasted a total of five seconds before Gavroche gurgled and flapped an arm at Javert. 

"I think he likes you," Valjean said cheerily, wrapping an arm around his husband's waist. 

"Someone has to!" Grantaire's disembodied voice called out. Javert rolled his eyes again, but said nothing in response as the group finally gathered around the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go!
> 
> You may notice that there is now another fic in the series! That's a little cutesy JBM fic that I wrote at 3 AM a week or so ago. It's set in this universe, but a little farther in the future. I'll be posting other things like that from the point of view of other various characters. I plan for this story to be completely from Éponine's point of view. 
> 
> I will try to post the next chapter soon, but I'm starting college in 2 weeks and it's still performance season, so I can make no promises. I will do the best I can. 
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr at rina-san28. Stop by and say hello!


	3. The Start of Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now there's only the four of them. What do they do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here!
> 
> So I started college and for the first month or so it kicked my ass, but things have calmed down quite a bit. I wrote much of this in the library on campus, actually. Wonderful place.
> 
> This is a weird chapter. Cute, but weird. Although, considering the group of people it's about, that's to be expected.
> 
> Enjoy!

É́ponine woke up to a mouthful of blonde hair and the staticky sounds of a baby crying through the monitor. She laid there for a moment, confused, before the events of the previous day came crashing back on her. 

Dinner had been fine. Wonderful, really. Gavroche had been a little angel, drinking the formula Fantine made without a single complaint. Everyone had taken turns holding him and introducing themselves despite Enjolras, Combeferre, and Joly repeatedly informing them that the baby was still too young to properly recognize anyone. It had been the most precious thing she had ever seen.

And then dinner ended. 

They were getting everything cleaned up. Joly, due to being up all day and whatever else happened that landed his leg in the sink, had been banished to the sofa with Gavroche. Approximately two minutes into cleanup, Gavroche began to scream and Joly began to gag, causing the entire group to run out to see what was the matter. 

Gavroche had exploded. As Feuilly explained through near hysterical laughter, the poop had come out at such velocity that the diaper had been made useless, which was why both Gavroche and Joly were covered in the stuff. With that, Feuilly scooped up the baby and grabbed Cosette, and the two had set to cleaning him up and stopping the screams. In the meantime, Chetta and Bossuet were stripping a hyperventilating Joly as Combeferre held out damp washcloths and assured him that yes, he would be fine, Gavroche appeared to be a very healthy baby, _I promise, Laurent, please breathe._

The party had broken up soon afterwards. Chetta and Bossuet had taken poor Joly home with plans to completely disinfect him. Combeferre had all but dragged a whining Courfeyrac out the door (“Just one more lil kiss, please ‘Ferre?” “They’re bathing him, they don’t want more germs on their clean baby!”), Enjolras and Grantaire following close behind. Montparnasse also took his leave, carrying a very sleepy Jehan on his back. Bahorel stayed, helping Marius unpackage the rest of what the baby shopping team had purchased, but as soon as Feuilly emerged soaking wet from the bathroom, the two had said their own goodbyes. Soon enough, it had just been the three of them, the baby, and Cosette’s parents.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to stay the night?” Fantine had asked for what must have been the sixteenth time, stroking Gavroche’s downy baby hair. “We’d be more than willing to-”

“Maman,” Cosette had said, “we’ll be fine.”

“If you need anything-”

“We’ll call you,” Marius had said. After that, Fantine, Valjean, and Javert had very reluctantly left as well.

Now, at - Éponine glanced at the clock - _three o’clock in the fucking morning_ , she was really wishing they’d let them stay.

She sighed and began to untangle herself from Marius and Cosette without waking them. This was the third time so far that Gavroche had started crying. She didn’t blame him - if she’d suddenly been scooped up by a bunch of people she didn’t know and taken to a place she’d never been with new things she’d never seen, she’d probably cry, too.

“Pónine?” 

Éponine cursed softly as Marius lifted his head up, squinting at her. “Sorry. Go back to sleep.”

“Nuh-uh,” Marius murmured, sitting up. “You’ve gotten up twice now-” he paused to yawn, “-’n I wanna help.”

“I’ve got it, Mars, go to sleep,” Éponine said. She tried to get up, but Marius pushed her back down. 

“He’s my son as well, now, Pónine,” he said softly. “You’re not doing this alone.” 

She stared at him, slightly shocked, before giving in and nodding. “Okay.”

Marius leaned over and kissed her temple. “Sleep.” He pushed the covers back and slid out carefully, then stood and walked towards the door, pausing briefly to grab the hideous bathrobe that Jehan had made him before disappearing into the hallway. 

Éponine settled back down and wrapped an arm loosely around Cosette’s waist. She listened as Marius’s voice mixed in with Gavroche’s crying over the monitor, the man cooing soothingly at the baby as he settled him, and soon enough the crying stopped. Éponine drifted off in the arms of her stunning, sweet, darling lark to the sounds of her beautiful, wonderful, amazing giraffe singing nonsense at the tiny human they now cared for. 

Maybe they really would be just fine. 

\-----

The next time Éponine woke up, she was alone in the bed. The sheets were tucked up tightly around her and the sun shone onto her face through the curtains. She laid there for a moment longer before reluctantly sitting up and pushing the covers away. 

As she got out of bed, she wondered if Gavroche had stayed asleep after Marius had gone to him or if she had just slept through the rest of his cries. The second thought frightened her a bit, and she didn’t bother with getting dressed before hurrying down the hall to check the nursery.

The room that had been converted into an emergency nursery had been full of boxes of odds and ends they had never unpacked after moving in, so no major shifting had to be done. It was already fairly nice looking, but Grantaire had promised to come over next week and paint the walls, and Éponine highly doubted that he would simply paint the room one color and leave it at that. The man was probably planning some kind of masterpiece that would go completely unnoticed by the room’s occupant. (Not that he would care, Éponine thought, as Gavroche had the artist wrapped around his little finger.)

Éponine poked her head inside, but found the room empty. Frowning, she continued down the hallway and went down the stairs, stopping at the first landing and poking her head around the wall. The sight that greeted her caused a smile to begin creeping across her face as she stood there and drank it in.

Cosette was sitting on the floor in front of the tv, Gavroche in her lap. Éponine couldn’t see the screen, but it sounded like they were watching the ocean documentary Combeferre had probably left at their house at some point. Gavroche was staring at it in wonder, and Cosette was watching him, running a hand over his soft baby hair. Loud clanking and the smell of food were emanating from the kitchen as Marius worked his magic.

“Lookie, Gavroche!” Éponine was startled from her thoughts by Cosette’s voice, and looked down to see her girlfriend pointing up at where she was still standing on the stairs. “There’s Mama!” Gavroche, it seemed, was much more enthralled in the colorful fish on the television than his new caretaker, but Éponine smiled and joined the blonde pair all the same.

“Morning,” she said, bending down and pecking Gavroche on the head and Cosette on the lips. “What an adorable sight to see first thing in the morning.”

“I could say the same about you,” Cosette said. 

Éponine wolf-whistled at her. “Smooth.”

“Pónine?” she heard Marius call from the kitchen. “Is that you?” 

“No, it’s your beloved Grandfather Wind-bag,” she called back, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Marius’s head appeared from around the archway, looking rather unimpressed.

“Is that the best one you could come up with?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“At the moment,” Éponine said. “I just woke up and I haven’t eaten yet, cut me some slack.”

“Excuses, excuses.” Marius dropped his little facade and shot her a tender smile. “Pancakes are almost ready. Five minutes, tops.”

“Gavroche already got his breakfast,” Cosette said. “I tried some of that apple-y stuff that Mom brought and he seemed to like it.”

“Did you taste it?” Éponine asked. 

“Oh, heck no,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I remember what happened when Grantaire and Bahorel did that YouTube challenge. That was nasty.” Éponine shuddered as well. That had not been fun to clean up.

“Can someone come set the table?” Marius’s disembodied voice said.

“Coming!” Cosette lifted Gavroche into Éponine’s lap, then stood and walked to the kitchen.

Éponine looked at the little boy in her lap. His gaze hadn’t wavered from the sharks on the screen despite the change in seating. She smiled again and wrapped her arms around him gently, cuddling him and breathing in his baby scent. Last night’s bath had definitely helped.

Gavroche suddenly began to wiggle in her lap and flap his arms. Éponine frowned down at him. “What’s up, buddy?” He began to babble softly and leaned forward as if he wanted to be set free. After a moment she obliged him, laying him on his back like Combeferre had told them to. 

“Éponine?” Cosette said from somewhere behind her. “Breakfast is ready.”

“Just a moment,” Éponine said. Gavroche had begun making little grunting noises and seemed to be trying to lean to one side. “I think he’s trying to roll.” 

Cosette was at her side in an instant. “Really?”

“Yeah, watch.” Just then, the baby flopped over onto his stomach. 

“ _Marius!_ ” Cosette shouted, whipping out her phone. “Get out here!”

Marius rushed in, skittering to a stop between his girlfriends. “What’s wrong?”

“Gav rolled over,” Éponine said. “I think he’s gonna do it again.” Sure enough, he made a quiet grunting noise and rolled onto his back. 

“Yay!” Marius started clapping. “That was so good, buddy!”

“Can you do it again for us?” Cosette said, getting down on the floor with the rest of them and starting to record. Gavroche kicked his feet and blew a raspberry at her.

“He told you, Meemee,” Éponine joked. 

“C’mon, Gav!” Marius said. “Papa missed it the first time!” That seemed be enough motivation for Gavroche. He rolled completely over, beaming up at his new parents and squealing when he landed on his back. 

“Look at him go!” Cosette smacked at Marius’s forearm excitedly as Gavroche continued to show off his newly-discovered skill, giggling as he went. 

“This is really cute,” Éponine said, “but I’m still hungry.” 

“Fair enough,” Marius agreed, reaching out and scooping Gavroche into his arms. “Let’s get some food for Mama.” He pecked the baby on the cheek and walked back to the kitchen, Éponine and Cosette following close behind.

“I can’t believe it!” Cosette exclaimed as she stopped the video. 

“I can.” Éponine shrugged. “Joly said that babies do that around this age.”

“We might have to have Feuilly go ahead and put up the baby gates,” Cosette said thoughtfully. “I remember Maman saying that I rolled around the house before I started crawling.”

“Great, we get a baby and it’s already mobile. Figures.” Éponine smiled as she sat down next to Gavroche, who was already settled in his highchair. “You’re going to be a fun little guy, aren’t ‘cha?” The boy babbled away as Marius put a plate on the table in front of her, dropping a kiss on her hair as he did so. 

They slowly worked through the excess of pancakes that Marius had made, continuously stopping to play with Gavroche. It was when Éponine and Cosette were cleaning up the breakfast dishes that they uncovered a new bit of his personality.

“...so Papa was chasing Dad down the hall with the feather duster and Maman was laughing so hard that she was crying and there I am, standing in the doorway with my backpack with absolutely no context to this situation-” Cosette paused in her story to put a plate away, and upon closing the cabinet, a burst of hysterical laughter came from the highchair. 

Éponine turned off the sink and looked at Marius. He was sitting in front of Gavroche and had a weird look on his face. “Mars?”

“Cosette, do that again,” he said.  
“Okay…” Cosette opened the cabinet door and then shut it again, prompting another bout of laughter. She did it again, and again, each time with the same result. 

“Jesus,” Éponine said. “He thinks this is hilarious.”

Marius started to giggle as well. “You’re a weirdo. So much like Mama.”

“Hey!” 

“It’s true,” Cosette said, poking her in the side.

“I’m gonna take him back to the living room,” Marius announced. He pulled Gavroche out of the high chair and headed out, whispering quietly to him as he went. 

“That boy has Marius wrapped around his little finger,” Éponine said fondly. 

“He has _everyone_ wrapped around his little finger,” Cosette pointed out. 

“Even your dad?”

“ _Especially_ my dad.”

They made quick work of the rest of the dishes, listening to the sounds of their boys giggling, before going out to join them.

Marius was laying on his back on the floor, holding Gavroche up in the air above him and making _woosh_ -ing sounds as he carefully waved him around. 

“You,” Éponine said, “are adorable.”

“Which one?” Marius asked, pausing and lowering Gavroche to sit on his chest.

“It was a plural ‘you’.” She looked down at her nightshirt and sighed when she saw a spot on it. “I made a mess of myself again.”

“We should get you and Gavroche matching bibs,” Cosette said with a smirk.

“Hush, you,” Éponine said, waving a threatening finger at her. “I’m gonna go put real clothes on. Is there anything else you folks want washed?” 

“I’ll take care of it!” Marius said immediately, settling Gavroche on the rug and standing up. 

“I can do my own laundry!”  
“No you can’t,” her partners chorused. 

“I-” she started.

“Shrunk three of my dresses and six of Marius’s shirts,” Cosette said, counting off on her fingers. 

“Turned all of our white underwear pink,” Marius joined in.

“Then turned all of our socks grey.”

“And fell down the stairs carrying a laundry basket.”

“And somehow shrunk my ballet tights-”

“While stretching out both of your leotards in the same load.”

“And then there was the time-”

“Okay, okay,” Éponine said, throwing her hands up in surrender. “I can’t do laundry.”

“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you!” Marius chirped.

“Nerds,” she said, walking to the stairs.

“But we’re your nerds!” she heard Marius call from behind her above Cosette’s delicate little giggles. She merely sighed and continued to their room, unwilling to give in and confirm the statement. 

\-----

By the time Éponine got herself sorted, Gavroche seemed to be running low on steam. Cosette plucked the him out of a distressed Marius’s arms (“He thought it was funny when I did it the first time!” “Yeah, so did we, but you don’t see us laughing at time number three hundred ninety-four.”) and rocked him back and forth to soothe him.

“I think it’s naptime,” she said. The statement was confirmed by Gavroche letting out a sleepy-sounding whimper as Cosette slowly moved to the stairs. 

“We should try and get some more stuff done,” Éponine reminded Marius. “We’ve still got shit from my parents to sort through, plus everything that the gang picked up.”

“I think they got a little bit overexcited,” Marius said fondly.  
“Babies seem to do that to people.” She used him to push herself to her feet. “C’mon, let’s get to work.”

They each grabbed a bag of clothes and settled on the sofa, working in silence for a bit. Before long it became too much for Éponine.

“Why?” she asked abruptly.

“Why what?” Marius looked startled.

“I already have a fuck-ton of baggage and for some reason you and Cosette put up with me,” Éponine ranted, “and now I’ve got this baby brother-slash-son and we’re all fucking _college students_ with part-time jobs at a bakery and no car and I don’t know the _first fucking thing_ about childcare and-” She cut herself of with a growl and pitched the stained frog onesie she was holding into the waiting trash bag.

“Hey,” Marius said softly, “look at me.” After a moment, Éponine obeyed. Marius took her hands in his and squeezed them. “You have been through so much. You are so strong. Cosette and I don’t ‘put up with’ you - we _love_ you. Plus, you’re forgetting what we do have. We have a huge, supportive friend group, Cosette’s super-amazing parents, and enough schedule flexibility to give our _son_ the loving and happy childhood that he deserves. Plus,” he added, “if you’re that worried about being a good parent, then chances are you will be a spectacular one.”

“He’s right,” Cosette said, appearing behind Éponine. She settled on the arm of the sofa and wrapped her arms around Éponine, resting her chin on her shoulder. “My mother said the same thing to me last night.”

“I’m sorry I’m being such a whiner,” Éponine said. “I’m not usually like this.”

“We know, darling,” Marius chuckled. “We live with you.”

“You’ve just had a huge and unexpected role change.” Cosette turned her head enough to kiss Éponine’s neck. “It’s completely understandable for you to have a few breakdowns.”

“You should major in psychology,” Éponine muttered. 

“I’m actually thinking about choosing sociology, for the record,” Cosette said. She let go of her girlfriend and sat up before jabbing at Éponine’s shoulder. “Scootch.” 

Any attempts at work after that were thwarted by cuddles, and, for the first time since the phone call, Éponine felt okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that redeemed the wait a little bit!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr! Come say hello at rina-san28!

**Author's Note:**

> And that's a wrap! Chapter 2 is already partially written, so it should be up before too much longer. Also, I'm putting this as a series because there will be side stories from other characters' points of view. 
> 
> Just briefly, I would like to thank my beta reader, theglasgowreel on Tumblr, for going through this and putting up with me bombarding her with my story ideas at 2 AM. You are a wonderful human, Annabelle. 
> 
> You can also find me on Tumblr at Rina-san28! Shoot me a message and we can have a chat!


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